Newb Question

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I have had a GPS for quite a while now, a little Garmin Gecko 201. I have used it for arb things here and there whilst hiking or traveling around but have not used it as much as I would have liked to...Then I watched Top Billing last Thursday and found out about this awesome sport/hobbie as I love the outdoors and now can get some more use out of the GPS!

Is this unit "good enough" to go find some caches? Or do you think I need an upgrade? I am going out this afternoon to try and find my 1st cache anyway will let you know how it goes....

Does somebody have a list of Caches in the Johannesburg area? Would like to try and find the caches closet to home 1st...

Would also be interested in getting to together sometime with one of the more experienced cachers in the area to go through some basics on geocaching.

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That GPS should be fine. I started my career with a dodgy 2 decimal places GPS, and had no difficulties finding caches. Sometime people complain a bit when your hiding co-ords are a bit out, but its not a big issue at all!

If you want a list of all Joberg caches, you could go to www.globalrat.com, and click on "SA Caches by province" and then select GP. A good place to get your close ones when you start, and then just use geocaching.com to get details on all new caches placed once you have found a few.

Also, once you are in a cache pages readme, you can select "Show me all nearby caches", which groups them by distance from a set cache.

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GPS should be fine. When I started I had a real old unit. I had to input everything by hand and wandered the woods for a long time looking for something that I was told was there, but didn't really know what it looked like.

Had to go back to the house two times and check the site. Plus it was raining that day. I used that unit for months, and then my wife bought me a new one. ( I think she regrets that purchase. )

Anyways, welcome to the fun of it all. Hope your caching adventures are great. And remember, it's a great excuse to be outside walking where you have never been before.

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Thanks to everybody for the advice, went out to Message in a bottle yesterday afternoon on the way to Tree in the Middle, GPS worked fine the, because I had to work a little late one problem I had was the light faded very quick so I know I got to the right spot but because the light was so bad gave the hunt up! And then there seemed to be a but of a storm on the way

Hopefully I can get off work a little earlier today and get back out there to find my first cache!

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Goofster, oh how I covet thy cachemobile!!!! I have the CS, by the way.

Jedimaster21 - Beware, although this sport is "free" the outside expenses can add up. Somewhere in the SA thread is a post about the cost of geocaching in SA. Some of the stories are funny, some are sad.

Ah, the GPS. That piece of equipement that my gov't spent billions of dollars developing so we can enjoy finding 2L ice cream containers outdoors. What a system.....

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Not to mention all the ice-cream one has to eat just so that you can place another cache. Although TV&M's Ferero-Rocher hot chocolate sauce could spur me on to place many a cache! Perhaps this is their secret weapon . . . ? Yeah, there are plenty of hidden costs in geocaching: medical bills for various contusions, abrasions and sprains, Pratley's putty for emergency GPSr repairs, inkjet cartridges for reams of cache print-outs. But I digress. I'm glad you like the cachemobile, Vespa, but I'm not ready to trade just yet.